The use of on-line publications systems and electronic mail systems is rapidly increasing. For individuals in an organization, the use of an electronic mall system is useful for sending notes, messages, letters, etc., within the same office or across the country. Simply by entering information into an electronic mail screen, one person can electronically send that information to another person for immediate review or action.
Additionally, with the access to many on-line databases which provide information such as, for example, airline schedules, weather, stock reports, news articles, etc., users of a terminal have many references literally at their fingertips. It is a simple matter for a user to call up an on-line service to obtain a copy of a reference contained therein for review.
If a first user desires to send a message along with a reference from an on-line source to another person, it is currently necessary to either type the entire information from the reference into the note, or type in identifying information to allow the recipient to locate the reference in the on-line service. If the text of the reference is typed into the message, the system ends up storing multiple copies of the information which wastes disk, tape, or permanent storage space. If identifying information to locate the reference is entered into the message, the recipient must exit the processing of the mail to go to the on-line publications system to locate and view the reference. In either case, is wasteful effort for both the sender and the recipient.
Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus which allows a user to enter a place mark in a note or message which would refer to an on-line publications system reference and send the note to a recipient. The recipient would then be able to select the place mark during viewing of the electronic mail. After viewing the selected on-line reference, control is returned to the electronic mail facility.